Silent Hill: Return
by Jin Yaranda
Summary: This is the story of Cheryl's daughter, Lori, who is caught in the world of Silent Hill-like distortion. But, something's different this time. (Rated R for violence and gore, language) (Read and Review please!)
1. Oh, god, help me

Note:  This is like a pre-title sequence in a movie, and the next chapter will have the prologue to this part (if I get positive feedback...if not, I'll just leave this to rot).  Forgive for any mistakes in the first part.  Not good on SH history.

            Chapter I

_She can't find me, he can't find me...I can't find me.  My mind is haywire, I can't believe any of this is going on, that this place...Silent Hill...has gone to such hell.  I don't want to believe it; no, I refuse to!  My mother, Cheryl Mason...she was born here, adopted by Harry Mason, my grandfather.  She came back to this town; to fight a god I could not envision; to right a wrong; to destroy evil once and for all.  She succeeded, and left Silent Hill with Douglas, a friend of the family.  Now, I've gone there, to fight a similar evil, to right a similar wrong, and to try to subdue an ancient evil that is growing, forever sucking happiness from the souls of any it touches._

_            It all started with a crazy woman, a demented church, and my grandfather's child.  His wife had died before he had come, so she was in no danger of becoming an enslaved monster, to listen only to what the evil told her, to fight and lose her will.  My grandfather, Harry, went to Silent Hill with his child.  He got into a car crash, and lost his baby...and searched through Silent Hill to find her.  He destroyed the evil that lived there, those thirty years ago.  But, in that time, he lost his child.  But, a mysterious woman handed a baby to him.  He named her Heather, and they got out of Silent Hill as fast as possible._

            Next was James, a man who was in mourning for his wife, Mary.  He went to Silent Hill in search of her, as he got a letter saying she was alive.  He searched and searched, and ran into a few people, one that looked exactly like his wife, only with different hair and eyes.  Her name was Maria.  He fought for Maria, went through Silent Hill.  When he found her, she was almost dead.  He let her die, reluctantly, and fought Maria, who had become a monster, a demon, a FOLLOWER of the cult in Silent Hill.  He drove out of there as fast as possible, never to return.

_            Then came my mother, Cheryl (then known as Heather) Mason.  She told me about her dreams, about the amusement park.  She woke one day to find everyone gone, that she was alone in Portland.  She had to find her way through Portland, starting at the mall, going to the subway, her apartment, meeting up with Claudia, a "minister" of the church of Silent Hill; Douglas, a detective; and Vincent, another minister.  Heather had to go to Silent Hill, to destroy a god, which was growing inside of her.  She left the town with her original name, Cheryl._

_            Now, it's my turn.  I have come to Silent Hill, to find my sister, and to find hope for a world that has gone to hell.  This time around, I know none of this is just in my head, or just a physical manifestation of my inner demons.  The entire world as we know it has been turned to hell, and I must find a way to reverse this.  My travels have lead from Atlanta, Georgia, where I 'borrowed' a jet liner (yes, I have a pilots license).  I have had to see about any and every grotesque thing you could imagine, from dogs rotting to the bone, to huge, powerful human-like creatures that have five arms, with seven claws on each that dripped blood from them, and were five feet taller than myself.  Though, along the way, I have run into a certain symbol...it is an evil symbol, I know...my mother showed me a picture (or drawing, rather) of it before.  It has something to do with that Silent Hill cult...and that's how I know to go to Silent Hill.  They have really gone overboard this time._

            When I arrived, I got off at the airport in Portland (what a coincidence?).  I have to find a way out of this place, to find a way to reverse all of this, to get to Silent Hill.  I know that I have seen horrible creatures, but I am still afraid for my life, and am utterly repulsed, every time I see one of these monstrosities.  The very sound of my radio set me into panic mode (figuratively speaking; I am more scared out of my wits than alert).  Only pure adrenaline and luck have gotten me this far, and I don't think that will hold up very long in this horrible world of sick minds.  I don't know what I have done to deserve this, just that it has happened...and that I intend to stop it at all costs.

            Lori Mason slowly stepped into the main waiting room of the airport terminal, sweat on her brow, her eyes deprived of sleep, and completely frightened.  Her T-shirt had many cuts in it from the miscellaneous creatures and inanimate dangers she had encountered, but you could still see that it was a blue shirt with the words "Help me, you're dying" on them.  Her baggy jeans barely stayed on, and that was because she had a loose-fitting belt on.  Some blonde-brown hair stuck to her face, so she wiped it away.  Her grayish eyes searched the terminal for any apparent dangers, her slender fingers fondling the small pistol at her side.  It was very powerful, though, a 9mm maybe.  She hadn't had time to check.  Her book bag felt heavy on her back, since it was filled with ammunition, certain seemingly meaningless items, and a few personal effects (including a diary).

            Two steps into the terminal, she heard a loud groan.  It was completely inhuman, and she could hear her radio go off.  The moan was drawn out, low, with a hint of pure evil in it, bringing a bad taste into her mouth.  The stench of the creature was rising, as it made her want to throw up, the sourness of mutated flesh and bone overpowering her.  She looked around frantically, searching for the source.  No monster was seen, and she couldn't tell what kind it was from just the sounds or smells it emitted.

            Ignoring the sound for now, Lori walked over to a door, and tried to open it.  It was locked, though the key was inserted.  There was blood on the keyhole, and when she looked down, she could see a round, white orb.  It looked like a marble, or a bouncy ball...

            _Or an eyeball._

            It was, in fact, a human eyeball.  The iris showed up when she kicked it, and she almost threw up.  It took a few minutes to collect herself, mentally and physically.  Her body and mind wanted her to quit, to go insane, to kill her, but she fought that impulse.  Every five minutes, she heard a voice in the back of her head say, "C'mon!  You got the weapon, the reason, and the opportunity...why not?  Better than dying at the hands of one of those creatures, right?"  She couldn't argue there, but that was why she couldn't, she WOULD not die.  Not at all, unless it meant lifting this curse from the world, bringing back life and love into this now-meaningless void.

            But, the eyeball reminded her:  She might be too late.  That was from an actual person, not a figment of her imagination.  _How in the hell could a real human still be alive?_  Thinking on this matter for a second, she sighed, giving up the train of thought, going for another door.  The next door she reached had blood smeared all over it, and a pattern drawn into it.  The pattern, though, was glowing red, and made her have a headache...

            _The symbol!  This must mean something...but what?_

            She reached slowly for the door, and turned the knob.  Unlike most of the doors, the knob turned, and she opened it.  When she poked her head inside, she almost vomited again, actually tasting bile in her mouth.  The room was a torture room, with blood and gore spread everywhere.  Items of pain were spread around the room, each with massive amounts of rust on them, most likely from the amount of blood that went onto it.  A small light revealed what little in the room was left...and she saw what she feared most.  She saw body part on the ground.  An arm, three or four legs...or was one of those a head?  It was hard to tell.

            She backed away, shutting the door slowly as she did so.  Her eyes were wide with fear and repulsion.  Gorge was rising in her throat, and she couldn't hold it back anymore.  Vomit came from her mouth, feeling acidy in her mouth, splattering all over the floor.  She had been through a lot, but hadn't seen anything as disturbing as this.  Which brought up a question.

            _What in the fucking hell is a torture room doing in a fuckin' airport?!_

She didn't wait to answer that question, and bolted to another side of the airport, feeling bile rising again, but she kept it down.  Blood made her queasy...well, human blood, at least.  Monster blood didn't seem as sickening, since it was horribly mutated and disfigured.

            Just as this crossed her mind, she heard a scream.  It was a human scream, not a fake, destroyed, mutated, impossible monster scream.  It came from a room across the room from her.  She bolted toward it, and found a room with a glass window.  Unable to get inside, she looked into the booth...and found nothing.  A slow, sloshing sound came from behind her, and she turned around.  Nothing was there, except for the terminal itself, the upturned bench, the destroyed trashcans, and the dead plants, plus the shattered glass, the scream still hanging in the air.

            A loud thud came from behind, and she swept around again, only to see the glass again, but with something covering it...something red.  She became nauseous again, and covered her mouth with her hands.  _Well...not as bad as that room, or as the eyeball..._  Just then, a man slammed against the glass very hard, half-exploding into a pool of blood on the glass.  The scream died when he hit, and a monster showed up from behind, dropping to the ground.  It started to eat the body, or what was left of it.  Bone, skin, and muscle were scattered all over the room now, and the horrible thing with no head and spines on its white back ate anything and everything.

            Lori drew her gun, fear coming out of her, paling her face.  Her vomit started to rise, and she pointed the gun at the room.  That glass didn't look very stable...it was even cracked in a few places.  The monster inside didn't seem interested in her at the moment, but she knew that she would be its next target.

            Just then, the glass broke in front of her, the bloodstained shards crashing inches from Lori's feet.  The monster itself reeked of blood and bile and something inhuman.  It 'looked' at her hungrily, its open mouth moving and groaning.  It leaped at her, and she raised her gun to shoot it, the pistol shaking in her hand...


	2. Nice day for hell, isn't it?

Forgot this in the first chapter, didn't I?

The character "Lori Mason" is copyrighted to me, but the Silent Hill series (Silent Hill, Silent Hill:  Play Novel, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 2:  Restless Dreams, Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill 4:  The Room, Silent Hill:  The Movie), Silent Hill or Silent Hill 3 characters included in this chapter or story (Harry Mason, Cheryl [Heather] Mason), or locations (Silent Hill, Portland) are copyright Konami Computer Entertainment International.  "You're Not Here" is sung by Melissa Williamson.

(Note:  This is the prelude to Chapter I)

Chapter II

            It was a perfect June 21, 2020 in Atlanta.  Lori was driving her newly bought car down a heavily congested road in the city, forcing her to go slower than she wanted.  A small company had hired her just a few days before, and they were pretty lenient of her tardiness so far.  But, her boss warned that she shouldn't be late again, unless she wanted to put her career on the line.  That was something she couldn't afford at the moment.  This was her first job, and she didn't want to be fired on the fourth day, now did she?

            _Keep thinking like that, and you will!  Just drive._

Slowly, she turned onto the Atlanta Expressway.  She sped her small Toyota Camry '20 down the freeway, the roads looking like they did seventeen years back, when she was born.  Not much had changed since the turn of the century, except for a few more vaccines to deadly viruses, more high-tech interiors of buildings...all that stuff.  Just, no real advances, like hover cars, or ways to end wars without guns, bombs, or knives.  The same weapons are still in production, in fact.  No one bothers to improve the world's weaponry, so the human race still has a chance to survive.  The scientific prowess of humanity had led humans – actual humans to Mars, and they found signs of previous life there...carbon-based rocks with fossil-like designs in them.  Besides that, there was not much to talk of.  Great era, this was.

            A song slowly played as she drove down the freeway on her radio, and she just listened, thinking.

Blue sky to forever  
Green grass blows in the wind, dancing  
It would be a much better sight  
With you, with me  
If you hadn't met me  
I'd be fine on my own, baby  
Never felt so lonely   
Then you came along  
  
So now what should I do?  
I'm strung out, addicted to you  
My body aches now that you're gone  
My supply fell through  
  
You gladly gave me everything you had and more  
You craved my happiness  
When you made me feel joy it made you smile  
But now, I feel your stress  
Love was never meant to be such a crazy affair, no  
And who has time for tears?  
Never thought I'd sit around and cry for your love, 'til now

            Finally arriving at her workplace, she drove into her designated spot.  As soon as the car stopped, she pulled the parking brake, but did not turn the engine off, enjoying the faint vibration of the car's motor.  She sat there for a bit, looking out the windshield, until her car clock went of (like it does every hour), and she snapped out of her dreams of lollipops and Candy land.  Half-shoving the door open, she rushed out of her car, unbuckling herself first.  When she was about to shut the door, she noticed that she had made a dent in the door of the car next to her.  That would cost her about a hundred dollars, of which she wouldn't have if she didn't get to the office and check in RIGHT NOW.

            Her sneakers were silent against the pavement, her "Help me, you're dead" T-shirt and baggy cargo jeans ruffled in the wind.  Sweat started to form on her brow, and she slowly became out of breath, yet she still sprinted.  The security guard let her pass, since she knew Lori's face well.  The door to the stairs opened with little effort, and she double-timed them, rushing as fast as possible.  _Seems I still have a little agility left,_ she thought as she reached the second floor.  The elevator had been out of order for weeks, and was still as such.  So, everyone had to take the stairs.  The stairs were empty right now, though, and she knew that everyone was at their workplace.  Her watch hadn't gone off yet, though...so she still had time.

            The third floor sign passed, and Lori got nervous.  She thought of what her mother told her about being on time, and the calls she got from Lori's employer...

            _"Lori, dear, this isn't what I expect from you.  You know that...and I know you can do better than this."  Her eyes were caring yet distressed.  Cheryl, my mother, was very worried about how I lived my life.  Why, I have no idea.  She just thinks that I should have a better life than she should.  So, she's basically running it for me.  I wish she'd stop, but she always told me she'd tell me why I was being babied...and tonight, April 28th, she said she'll tell me why..._

By the time these thoughts were over, she had arrived at her target floor...and her watch was beeping.  She was now officially late for work.  Her job now in danger, she slammed the door open for the 12th floor, and ran into the hallway.  Not looking in any of the cubicles she passed, she rushed to her own.  When she finally sat down, she let herself calm down before she became aware of her environment.  She listened for a sound, the bustle of the office, and started to recline...

            _...there's no noise...?_

            The office was dead silent.  The lights seemed to be dimmed, and the ceiling was stained.  With what, she didn't know.  This was becoming eerie, fast.  _Must be a trick or something,_ she told herself.  A white sneaker on her feet popped out of her cubicle slowly, and she walked back down the aisle she came in, looking in each for signs of life.  Nothing there, except scattered paper, disconnected phones...and the same substance on the desks as was the ceiling.  It looked like dried blood...

            Lori became sick, and rushed down the aisle faster.  She turned right, and went to the Ladies restroom.  Her hand went to one of the stall doors, and she shoved it open.  Open-mouthed, she started to have dry heaves.  After thirty or so seconds, she threw up.  


	3. First Taste

Chapter III

            Lori looked up from the toilet, which she then promptly flushed.  Her mouth still stung from the acid that rose from her stomach, but she didn't mind it.  She was staring at the wall.  It was covered in blood, also, but had something written in it...

            _God, who would touch blood????_

            Her head bent down again, to the toilet, ready to throw up.  But, seeing as how there was blood everywhere, she stood up, forcing her disgust down.  Looking to the stain, she started to read.  The words were blurry, so she reached up to wipe them off instinctively...and the words started to glow, just as she pulled back.  She caught a glimpse of the first two words in the message, which read, "Do not..."

            Now more curious than afraid, she put her hand in front of her again, making the letters glow brighter than before.  Her eyes read over the message, and she gasped whenever she finished.  Over and over she read it, finding it more and more disturbing every time.  It read, "Do not trust the one who walks like a corpse, or you shall not find the eye."  Whatever that meant, it couldn't be good if it had the word 'corpse' in it.

            Her head started to thud, hard.  She could feel her own pulse about to explode out of her temples, and the pain welled up inside of her like someone shot her.  A voice started to whisper in the back of her mind, but she couldn't make out the words.  Her feet carried her out of the bathroom, and as soon as she opened the door, something made her feel uneasy, even more so than she had been.  A smell of rot crossed her nose, and the lights were all but bright.  As soon as she took her first slow, reserved step out of the bathroom, her foot clanked against something.  A flashlight lay on the floor in front of her, a pocket-light.  _Same thing that mom had..._

            No.  She refused to believe that the same thing that happened to her mother was happening to her.  This wasn't even Silent Hill, or anywhere near!  Besides, her mom had that embryo thing inside of her, which Lori did not.  They had checked her a million times, her mother over-protective and paranoid.  _But,_ she thought, _this does seem a lot like she told me..._

            The voice in the back of her head grew louder, but still incomprehensible.  Smacking the side of her head a few times, Lori tried to hear what it was her mind was trying to tell her.  Just then, she saw something next to the flashlight.  It was black, sleek...had a trigger.  It looked like a 9mm VP70.  She knew what one looked like, and the name, because her dad was a gun expert, heading the local NRA group.  Trembling, she picked up the flashlight first, tying it with a string, which she brought for her hair.  Next, she bent down next to the gun...and slowly slid it into her fingers.  Maybe it was happening to her.  Maybe...this was a replay of her mother's own experiences.

            _But...how...?  How can that be?  It's not...it can't be true, can it?_

Her eyes looked around the area, and she turned on the flashlight hesitantly, afraid of what she might see.  When the light shed on the area, everything seemed to be more distorted than before, blood and gore everywhere, bodies hanging from the ceiling, making her want to vomit yet again.  But, she kept it down.  Her first two steps were very slow, and she was totally afraid that there was nothing but silence in the room.

            A person could be seen on the other side of the room, but Lori couldn't make out any details.  _Who cares?!  Someone else!  Maybe they can see all this shit too!!!_  Running as fast as possible, Lori made her way down the aisle again, to the other person...and stopped when she saw the face of the one she was rushing toward.

            The woman, about 32-ish looking, had blondish-white hair, piercing ice-cold brown eyes, pale skin, and a long flowing black dress.  She looked irregular, almost dead.  Looked like someone her mom had described...Claudia, was it?  A long shot, but she just had to ask.

            "Excuse me, miss??  Is...is your name Claudia???"  Lori's voice broke, and she was getting more and more nervous every second.  A look crossed the woman's face, a mean, but stone-cold, unreadable look.

            "Yes, child...my name is Claudia Wolf...you are Lori Mason.  Welcome to reality."  Her voice was cold, uncaring.  She seemed...possessed, dead, or something.  Taking a few steps, Claudia walked a bit forward.  She walked like some of those zombies in movies.  A bell set off in Lori's head, remembering the warning on the wall.

            Just as those thoughts crossed her mind, Claudia turned to her, and yelled in a voice so inhuman, it couldn't have been from this realm.  It was like from another dimension, or Hell, or something.  The voices in her head also yelled out what they said, and she understood them both...for they were saying the same thing:

            "**TU FUI, EGO ERIS!!!**"

            At that, Claudia disappeared, leaving nothing but thin air in front of the scared young girl.  A thought crossed Lori's mind, which was weak at the moment from listening to her own mind scream out at her.  _What if...what if I can't get through this??  I have no combat training or anything!  This is going to be totally impossible!  I might as well just sit here and starve..._  And so she did.  She slunk against a cubicle wall, thinking about how much dehydrating to death would make her suffer, but she knew it'd be better than running into anyone like Claudia again...

            After a few minutes of sulking, Lori heard a yell.  It was not human, like Claudia's yell was before.  It had a demonic ring to it, making her jump up suddenly, gripping at her pistol tightly.  Something moved in front of her, and she strained her eyes to see through the darkness.  The flashlight wasn't helping much.  Though, she could hear a slow padding against the carpet, like feet, or claws, or something.

            Readying the VP70 in her inexperienced hands, she looked into the room to see what was the source of the noise.  A small, white creature stepped into view...and made Lori recoil.  It had no head, only an open, bleeding neck.  Its body was that of a dog, except the muscles were way oversized, making it look like a huge, deadly pillow.  The skin was pure white with a few veins sticking out.

            It yelled again, and Lori just shot, instinctively.  The sound was deafening, and left a ringing in Lori's ear for a second.  It fell to the ground with a dog-like "yelp", and started to bleed.  Lori went over to it, slowly, with her gun raised.  It didn't seem alive, though she didn't know where the bullet had hit.  Slowly, she bent down, examining the body...when it latched onto her leg, making her scream.  The teeth that had grown out of its mutated neck hole bit down on her calf, letting blood flow from her leg.

            Her other leg whipped around, and kicked the monster in the side.  The thing screamed out in what seemed to be pain, and it let go of her leg.  She pulled away as soon as possible, bringing her gun up...only to realize she'd dropped it when it bit her.  Looking back for it, she only saw a spent shell.  Something drilled into her backside, and she propped herself up, taking the obviously-placed gun in her shaking, nervous fingers.

            Still alive, and very angry, the thing stood up, ready to pounce at her again.  This time, she fired three shots, each one making her hands buck wildly.  The thing fell to the ground, and more cautious this time, Lori got up.  It looked dead...but she decided to make it final.  With one strong kick, she slammed her foot into the monster's back, making it whine softly, like a dying animal.

            Her senses were telling her to run, to get to the parking lot, to go home...to find someone.  But, first, she had to find a way out of there.  Running to the elevator, her leg aching from the bite, blood filling her shoe, she jabbed the button.  The elevator did not open.  She cursed under her breath, and rushed into a cubicle marked "C1903B2F".  She knew who worked there; it was her good friend, Matt Kinser.  Matt was a good guy all around, but was a hypochondriac.  So, he carried essentials with him.  A good look in the cubicle, and she found a backpack filled with medical supplies.  Taking a gauze and local anesthetic (_how'd he get that?_), she jabbed the needle into her leg.  After applying pressure to the wound, she wrapped it several times in gauze, not caring about infection or anything of the sort right then, just about how to survive, to get out of this hellhole.

            Walking down the aisle for the hundredth time, Lori breathed heavily.  This was going to be a very, very long day.  Claudia had said something...something like "Tu fui, ego eris"...from her college days, she remembered her Latin classes.  Trying to recollect that phrase, she remembered what it meant.  Saying it out loud made her shiver.  "What you are, I was...what I am, you soon will be..."  Slowly opening the door to the stairwell, Lori Mason shook as she took her first step to getting out of this nightmare.


End file.
